Reviewing the Movies

Friday, April 29, 2011

The movie, The Reader, takes place in Germany. On his way home one day, Michael Berg, collapses in the street. He has been sick for some time. A woman finds him and brings him back to her apartment, and later brings him back to his home. Once he is well, his mother makes him go back to the woman’s home to thank her. After an incident where she catches him sneaking a peak while she is changing, they start having an intimate relationship. It is then that he finds out that her name is Hanna, and she is thirty-six years old. She is surprised when she finds out that he is only fifteen years old. She starts to make him read to her, every time before they get intimate. They eventually start having fights here and there, and Michael starts to give up whenever a fight is about to start. He becomes so quick to say, “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault”; even if he isn’t in the wrong. Hanna eventually disappears without a notice. The next time Michael sees her, he is a law student, observing the trials of a few women whom were guards in the concentration camps during the holocaust. Hanna is one of them, but as Michael soon finds out, that was not her only secret that she has been hiding. This fictional story was originally a book, and then it was made into a movie. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories about this subject.

We all know the story of the Third Reich, and how its perpetrators were convicted of their crimes afterwards. What some might not know is that not all of them were caught right after the empire fell. Eichmann is the true story of one of the SS officers whom fled, and remained hidden for so many years. In the movie Eichmann is found in Argentina. He is then extradited to Israel, where is to be put on trial for the atrocities that he committed. The main character of the movie is the person that is going to be prosecuting him, Anver Less, a captain in the police force. At the beginning, no one knows who is going to be prosecuting Eichmann, and all around Anver Less, everyone is saying how Eichmann doesn’t even deserve a trial. This is naturally hard for Anver Less, because he has been given instructions not to reveal to anyone that he is the prosecutor. Naturally word gets out, and as always in situations like this, his wife is one of the last people to find out. Naturally this creates some friction at home. As we come to find out, this is not Anver Less’s only secret. He soon finds out that his family was directly affected by Eichmann during the holocaust; which means that a jury will not be happy if they hear that a prosecutor could have biases towards the person he is prosecuting. His secrecy is then threatened by a journalist who threatens to tell everyone his secret. Anver’s is having a lot on his mind, not to mention the fact that he is running out of time to get a good conviction on Eichmann. I really enjoyed this movie, and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in history.

Only a very good scary movie can keep you up all night from how scary it was. This movie is brilliant and one of the scariest I have seen in a while. If you haven’t seen the first one, I would see it and then see this one. Paranormal Activity 2 is truly a mindboggling film with parts that make you jump five feet out of you chair. The connection between Paranormal Activity One and two is so crazy it will blow you off your feet. In a small town we find a young father and mother with a newborn and a young daughter Molly. After a series of break ins the Rey family decides to set up security cams all over the house. A couple of days later the family starts to notice some weird things in the house. Things that is near to unexplainable. Kristi Rey is sisters with Katie the girl from the original movie, this connection is one of the main reasons they are in the devils hands. A spiritual gathering when they were younger doomed both of them for eternity. Daughter Molly is the first to notice that strange things are happening in the house and tells her parents. Her father looks at the tapes and doesn’t notice much and what he does notice doesn’t freak him out till much later in the movie. However they can’t leave the house because the devil will just follow them. There lives’ and days are in the devils hands, slowly the spooks become scarier and scarier until they find their way out, or do they? You’re going to have to find that out on your own.

With a cast full of some of the best comedians of out time, Grown ups attempts to put Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David spade, and Rob Schneider on the same screen for what I expected to be one of the funniest movies ever. Unfortunately it did not reach my expectations. The movie takes us on vacation with these five funny guys, their wives and kids, who were childhood friends, to their childhood vacation spot. It seemed like more of a reality show than a movie, like hey just sent all these people on vacation with a cameraman and tried to see what they could make out of it. The movie seemed unscripted and at times extremely boring. There was barely any plot besides the basketball game challenge that was extended towards them by their childhood rivals. Though at times there were some funny jokes, it seemed like they just threw one liners out to make fun of each other. This got really old after about 10 minutes of the movie. What especially bothered me was the consistent bashing about Kevin James being fat. There had to be ten jokes made on this topic, and though one or two would have been funny it got very old after a while. the bottom line is that after making this film these guys need to grow up.

A close friend who I do not always agree with her movie selections recommended I am Number Four, to me. Because of this I was very skeptical when I started watching the movie. It turns out that for the first time I agree with her movie taste and I surprisingly enjoyed the film.It turned out that this is actually an alien movie that takes you on a journey with John who is from another planet where only him and a few others like him survived a massive war. Obviously by the title we know hat John is the fourth survivor. John has a guardian named Henri, and they are forced to move multiple times because the race that exterminated the people on their home planet has followed them to earth in order to kill them. This was a very fin movie and I would definitely recommend it for a rainy day. It has all the expected aspects of an Action drama, but will keep you entertained for two hours while you enjoy the special effects and interesting costumes. I would give it a 6.5 out of 10.

A movie made for only the eyes and ears of poker players. If you don’t play poker I wouldn’t see you liking this movie at all. But if you do play, this is a film I would recommend if you haven’t seen it already. Beyond poker this movie has a very interesting plot that keeps you focused throughout. The movie is about two poker players, both very good however I think with the ways they play they could be considered degenerates. Matt Damon plays a law student named Mike Mcdermott. Mike is your classic gambler, lies to his girlfriend about where he is going, puts all his money on the line and sneaks out in the middle of the night. Mike loses big 10,000 against the big fish Teddy KGB, one of the best poker players in the town. Unfortunately that was it for Mike, his poker career was over that was all his money. His girlfriend said she would leave him if she caught him playing again. His buddy Worm gets out of jail and the gambling slowly starts up again; he loses his girlfriend and ends up taking care of Worms’s poor habits. If Worm needs money Mike gives it to him, however instantly we know that Worms name is Worm because he is a slime ball. No one helps him other than Mike because no one likes him, there like brothers and Mike is trying to redirect him. This movie is a quick glimpse of the life of a poker player. It shows the rough times that player have to go through to live out their dreams.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is, without a doubt, one of the best comedies this world has ever witnessed. With a star studded cast that consists of Will Ferrell, Christine Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, and a guest appearance by Seth Rogen, how could this movie possibly go wrong? Anchorman is the story of San Diego’s top anchorman, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), and his comedic news team. They are the most popular news team in all of San Diego, and also the news team with the most antics. Life is good for Ron Burgundy until his station brings in some new talent. Awe-stricken by her beauty, Ron Burgundy falls head over heels for the new girl. Veronica Corningstone (Christine Applegate) is the new girl in town, holding her own ambitions of becoming a television news anchor. When Ron Burgundy runs into trouble, he misses his show. The station offers Veronica a sudden chance to replace the missing Ron Burgundy, and she does an amazing job. When Television ratings show high approval ratings for Veronica, they promote her to co-anchor. Ron and Veronica begin to despise one another, creating a rift between the original news team and Veronica Corningstone. When Ron becomes further distracted by his co-worker, the station decided to promote Veronica to full time anchor and everything goes downhill for the divided news team. Although my description might seem slightly dreary, the movie succeeds in all levels of comedy. Will Ferrell offers an arsenal of one-liners, while the rest of the crew offers silly, “slapstick” adventures that will have you laughing in your seat. You know a movie succeeds on a comedic level when all your friends begin to impersonate specific lines from the dialogue. Ron Burgundy’s humorous persona allows for this movie, even with a meaningless plotline, to champion every aspect a comedic film wishes to complete.

The World’s Greatest Dad is a dramatic comedy that consists of a lot more drama than comedy. Lance, played by Robin Williams, is an elderly school teacher and failed author. He is a lonely man who isn’t married and has one son. Lance and his son, Kyle, have nothing in common. Lance’s supposed “girlfriend” is having relations with another man. To sum up his life, it sucks. When Lance comes home from a date with his girlfriend, he finds his son dead with a belt around his neck and his pants down. Realizing his son’s death occurred during an embarrassing masturbation accident, Lance begins to emotionally break down. He decides to cover up his son’s embarrassing death by moving him into his closet so it appeared that Kyle hung himself. Lance proceeds to write Kyle’s fake suicide note. While writing the note, he realizes that his son was masturbating to pictures of Lance’s girlfriend. Upon his return to school, he realizes that his son’s suicide note is published in the school paper. When teachers and students alike are profoundly shocked by the astonishing level of literature presented in the suicide note, fellow colleagues of Lance ask to view more of Kyle’s supposed writing. Lance, from the point of view of his son, creates a memoir that stuns the entire school. As an inspiring author, Lance is shocked at the acclaim his son is receiving for his work. When a publishing company offers Lance a contract to publish his son’s memoir, he realizes that he is way over his head. This movie reflects many valuable life lessons. In life, the things you aspire to be may not be the things that make you happy. Throughout his entire life, Lance was an English teacher who wanted nothing more than to be an accomplished writer. When he finds success through his dead son’s fake writing, he realizes that he is living a lie and has never been more lonesome in his life.

John Beckwith, played by Vince Vaughn, and Jeremy Grey, played by Owen Wilson, are business partners and lifelong friends who also happen to enjoy crashing weddings. Regardless the race of who is getting married, they always create background stories to tell the guests and eventually, they become the hit of every reception.The goal is to get with girls who are aroused by the idea of marriage. Toward the end of wedding season, Jeremy learns that the daughter of Treasury Secretary William Cleary is getting married which should be the social event of the year. Jeremy and john fall for two of the bridesmaids, Claire and Gloria Cleary. Jeremy is able to easily work his game plan in seducing Gloria, but John has trouble seducing Claire. Unexpectedly, John falls for Claire, and John convinces Jeremy to violate the wedding crashing rules and go to a weekend party at the Cleary family house. Once they get to the house, they face many strange and funny obstacles with the members of the Cleary family.Eventually, they run into a few problems as their cover gets blown.Will they still be able to get the girls?

Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are at their best and are hilarious in their roles in Wedding Crashers.Wedding Crashers, directed by David Dobkin, did a wonderful job.

Overall, Wedding Crashers is a very funny movie with a pretty good story.I highly recommend going to see this film.I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.

In this amazing true story, George Jung, played by Johnny Depp, is the son of a struggling small business owner. George vows to never be poor and bankrupt like his father. He moves to California, where he starts his own marijuana dealing operation.George Jung’s marijuana business starts off well, as he makes a good amount of money, but ends up getting caught and gets sent to prison. In prison, he meets someone who introduces him to the high profiting drug cocaine. After being released from prison, George Jung immediately becomes a huge part in bringing cocaine into the United States, making a ton of money, Jung claimed that he handled about 85% of the supply during the 1970s. He also marries Mirtha Jung, played by Penelope Cruz, and has a child with her.Eventually, as usually the case when dealing with illegal drugs, Jung puts himself in many dangerous positions, including the FBI attempting to bring down George Jung’s whole cocaine operation.

Johnny Depp, George Jung, and Penelope Cruz, Mirtha Jung, did fantastic jobs with their roles in this film.Since this film is based on a true story, the viewer is amazed at what goes on in George Jung’s life, and Johnny Depp does not fail to impress.

Overall, the movie Blow is a must see film.With a true story, great cast and acting, and directed by a young, up and coming director, in Ted Demme, who unfortunately died at age 38.I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.